


How To Make Friends With Neighbours (And Not Explode Your House)

by eliotthawke



Category: Formula 2 RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:26:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26444863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eliotthawke/pseuds/eliotthawke
Summary: Juri finds a gas leak in his kitchen and enlists Marcus for help
Kudos: 27





	How To Make Friends With Neighbours (And Not Explode Your House)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [g0ldendays](https://archiveofourown.org/users/g0ldendays/gifts).



> This is a work of fiction, in no way do I claim to know people portrayed in this fic or state that these are their personalities. There is no romantic plot, the dynamic portrayed is friendship so if that's not what you want to read about then you probably should keep looking. This work is not to be shared with people I have used in it as characters.

In hindsight, Juri was glad he didn’t have a stuffy nose.

He’d just gotten over a bad cold last week, and now he found a sense of smell was very useful as he stood in his kitchen which unmistakably smelled of gas. The stove was turned off, in fact, Juri was yet to turn it on since he got back to his apartment after a weekend at his parents’. But the smell was there, faint but sharp and unpleasant and kind of scary.

Juri had no clue what to do. He’d been living in this apartment for two years now, since he'd started college, and the piece of paper the landlord had given him with all the emergency phone numbers had long since vanished. His parents had gone out of the country for a vacation - hence why he’d gone down at all, to see them off. No siblings to come to his aid. He briefly thought of calling his best friend, but immediately discarded the idea - he was halfway across the world, in Florida, and it was middle of the night for him. For Juri, however, it was 9 in the morning, and his apartment was getting more and more Hindenburg with each passing second.

Juri opened the kitchen window then, sweeping a bunch of empty coke bottles and tupperware containers from the windowsill. The sound of birds chirping in the trees outside reached him, and he wondered if they’d smell the gas and fly away. He really, badly needed help, but nowhere to call and no one to ask for it. Aside from…

He really hated talking to people he didn’t know, but now there was no other option. Juri sighed, walked out the apartment and pressed his neighbour’s doorbell.

–

It’s been about twenty minutes, and Juri was running out of doorbells to ring. Either all of the people in this apartment building were gone for the summer same way his parents were, or no one wanted to open a door to some random dude in flip-flops outside their door. Probably the second, Juri mused as he pressed the last doorbell on his floor.

To his surprise, the door swung open almost right away.

“Callum, I fucking told y-” the guy on the doorstep started, in a very heated voice, and then registered that Juri was not who he thought he was. “Oh, hi.”

“Hi,” Juri said, as the realization dawned on him that he hadn’t really thought through a tactic further than ringing people’s doorbells. The guy in front of him lifted his eyebrows questioningly. He looked Juri’s age, except he was a little shorter.

“I, um, I know this is gonna sound weird,” Juri started. His mother had always said his awkwardness will be the end of him, but he didn’t think it would be quite so literal.

“Is this about the mailboxes?” The guy guessed, face a mix of recognition and irritation as if he’d been reminded of an old sore. He scrunched up his nose. “It’s my roommate, I’m very sorry, he-”

“What? No,” Juri interrupted. “I’m here because there’s a gas leak in my apartment, and no one else would answer their door.”

The guy blinked once, then stared. His eyes were big, a little hooded, dark green color, and they didn’t look very hostile, which gave Juri hope.

“Is this a prank?” he finally said, deadpan. “Callum send you?”

“No,” Juri started getting frustrated. Maybe he wasn’t so lucky after all, with the people living here clearly being some sort of jokers. “I’m serious, I have a leak. My kitchen smells of gas, and I don’t know what to do.”

“And that’s my problem how?..” The guy’s eyes were narrowed now. And Juri knew it, that he had no right bringing this to some random stranger and expect help, but it was too late now. He’s already made a fool of himself.

“I don’t- I just… No one else would answer the door,” he repeated helplessly, preparing for the said door to be shut in his face.

When it didn’t, Juri lifted his gaze to find the guy looking at him quizzically now, expression undecipherable. His lips, already thin, pressed in a line as he thought something over, and then he was shuffling a battered pair of sneakers onto his bare feet and grabbing a set of keys from the stand. He unceremoniously pushed a dumbfounded Juri a little further back, so he could join him in the hallway and lock the door behind him, and then turned around, face still blank.

“All right, where’s this leak of yours?”

–

Juri walked back to his apartment, the neighbor following close, and managed to embarrass himself about a million times. Firstly, he dropped the keys just as he was taking them out of his pocket, and he felt all the blood rush to his face as he bent to pick then up. Then they were in and Juri was suddenly, inexplicably ashamed for his cluttered little hallway, so he tried to amend that by attempting to kick the pairs of shoes under the hallway table and reach for the light switch at the same time.

Thankfully, this neighbour seemed to have quick reactions, because Juri found his hand being grabbed around the wrist before he touched the switch.

“Whoa, what the hell are you doing?”

“Turning the lights on,” Juri mumbled, going red again. He hoped in the dim hallway it would go unseen. The neighbor, however, did not look too impressed and still hadn’t let go of Juri’s hand.

“Turning the lights on,” he repeated in a deadpan voice. “When you have a gas leak.”

A moment later, it clicked, and Juri resolved to not touch anything at all because he’d probably end up exploding this entire building. It must have been obvious on his face, because the guy shook his head a little and moved further in the apartment, kicking off his shoes with ease. Juri followed him into the small, cramped kitchen, where his neighbor was already sniffing around, quite literally.

“Yeah,” he concluded, wrinkling his nose again. “Definitely a leak.” He rubbed his forehead, pushing his fringe of thin brown hair away from it. “Have you called the emergency services?”

Juri had not. In fact, it seemed to completely escape him that he could just call the fire brigade or something.

“Oh my god,” the guy mumbled. “How are you still alive, man.” he shot Juri a calculating look, then continued. “Don’t call them now, not from here. Actually, don’t touch your phone at all, because it’s all electrical. Don’t want to risk a spark.”

Juri wanted to argue that he could work that out for himself and he wasn’t _that_ stupid, but then again, he kind of was, and so he just nodded mutely as the guy continued snooping around. He covered his nose and mouth with his sleeve and bent over the stove, gaze following the pipes.

“What are you doing?” Juri croaked. Surely this guy didn’t think he could visibly see where the gas was coming from?

“Trying to find the tap,” the guy replied, as he crouched and opened the under-the-sink cabinet. Another thing that didn’t even occur to Juri would be to stop the flow of gas altogether.

“Aha!” The neighbor reached in, grabbed the small handle which probably didn’t get much action because it wouldn’t go. He concentrated, muscles in his arm at a strain even though, Juri noticed, he looked like he worked out a fair bit. Finally, the handle gave in and was secured at a ninety degree angle. The guy dived out of the cabinet and brushed his hands with a smug face.

“Okay, now we get the hell out of here and call someone. Come on,” he beckoned, and Juri followed the guy back out of his apartment and out in the hallway. The neighbor fished his phone out of the pocket and quickly dialled.

“Hello,” he said, and after a brief pause continued conversationally, “I think we have a gas leak, we’ve opened a window and turned off the tap, what do we do?” he listened for a bit, nodding, then said their address and hung up. Juri looked at him expectantly.

“They’re sending a car, we should probably wait for them outside.”

It didn’t escape Juri’s notice how it suddenly became “we”, and he liked the guy despite his slightly snappy manner and a habit of switching a hundred moods in a minute. They walked outside, in the sunny street, and the guy looked around a bit, then seated himself on a short brick wall lining up the building. Juri joined him, with every minute feeling more like he was a five-year-old in a child’s seat, and this guy was his mom or dad or something.

“Thanks,” Juri said. “You really saved my ass.”

The guy looked over, a lopsided smile appearing on his face.

“Well, I live here too, so if you exploded your kitchen, I think I’d notice,” he chuckled, then stretched out his hand. “I’m Marcus, by the way.”

“Juri.”

He braced himself for the usual fuss about his unusual name, a bunch of questions maybe, but if Marcus was surprised he didn’t show it. Just shook Juri’s hand and nodded. At that moment a van pulled in, bearing the logo of the city services of some sort, and they both got up. A man jumped out of the cabin, dressed like a firefighter but with a mask hanging around his neck, and walked straight to them.

Juri clumsily explained his situation and Marcus contributed by describing the measures they’ve taken; the man nodded at them.

“Do you know how many of your neighbours are in?” he asked, and for some reason Juri and Marcus looked at each other immediately, Marcus smiling a little as he spoke.

“No, no one would answer the door.”

“Okay,” The man said, while the rest of his crew gathered outside the van. “Don’t go into the building until we give you the all-clear. And I’m gonna need the keys, unless you want us to break down your door.”

Juri passed the keys to the man, and he beckoned the rest of his crew in. Marcus and Juri looked at each other again.

“Well, this is great,” Marcus mused with a pout. “I can’t go back in either.”

Juri wanted to say sorry or something, but it wasn’t really his fault, so he just stayed silent. Marcus fumbled around his pockets until he unearthed a thin square of folded bills.

“Hm. I got cash,” he noted, then looked up, eyes shining mischievously. “How about we just order some food?”

“What?” Juri laughed. “We can just go to a place, no?”

“Not really,” Marcus pointed his thumb at the building behind them. “Who knows when they’ll be done. Might be twenty minutes, might be three hours. Gotta stay here.”

Juri nodded, agreeing. So today wasn’t one of his brightest days, clearly. Marcus sat back down on the bricks.

“So, what do you want? Pizza? McDonald’s?”

“Sushi,” Juri blurted out before he could stop himself, and Marcus looked over with a giggle.

“You want sushi? Okay, fair enough.” Before Juri knew it, he was back on his phone, calling some delivery company. Marcus checked the order twice to make sure he had enough to pay for it, and then hung up. “They’ll be here in half an hour.”

–

About an hour later, Marcus and Juri were spread out on the patch of grass near the playground, plastic sushi containers around them. Both had eaten until they were stuffed full, but there were still leftovers. The day burned hot now, summer in full swing, and they only had one bottle or water between them to wash down the salty rolls. Juri lazily thought that this day took a turn for the better.

There was a sound of footsteps, and like every time before it, they both perked up, hoping it was the gas company man with the all-clear, but it never was. Instead, a lanky dude stopped in front of them, looking at the impromptu picnic with disapproval.

Marcus, inexplicably, broke in a grin and sat up.

“You wanna join us?”

Juri thought it was unlikely, given the guy’s preppy outfit and carefully brushed hair and a business-like looking folder in his hands. But the next thing that happened was, the folder flew on the grass and the guy landed on top of it, folding his long legs under him. Marcus’s grin widened.

“Sushi I understand,” he said thoughtfully, and his British accent fit very well with his look, Juri thought. Next to a disheveled Marcus and Juri himself wearing old shorts and faded t-shirt, it looked strange, to say the least. The guy masterfully sent a roll into his mouth and chewed for a bit, then continued. “But why are you outside? There’s AC in the apartment, at least.”

“Yeah, about that,” Marcus huffed. “Our apartment is currently unavailable, because someone,” he sent a look Juri’s way, “has a gas leak in their kitchen.”

“I didn’t cause it,” Juri defended weakly. Marcus waved him off.

“You almost killed us about three times this morning, so quiet.” He turned to the newcomer. “If you’re gonna eat my sushi, pay up, Callum.”

Callum. This was Callum? The mysterious trouble-making roommate Marcus mentioned first thing they met? In Juri’s head, that reputation and his impeccable looks didn’t go very well together, but he didn’t linger on the thought. It bothered him, Marcus’s comment, until he realized it was because he was never asked to pay. It didn’t sit well with him, that after all Marcus had done to help, he was the one paying for the food now, too.

“I don’t have money on me now,” Callum snapped, “it’s all in the apartment.” His eyes, green like Marcus’s but a lot paler, widened. “The apartment! All of our papers and IDs and everything!”

For the first time since Callum’s appearance, Marcus’s grin faltered. Callum saw the confirmation he needed on his roommate’s face and jumped up.

“I can’t believe you moron didn’t grab any of it when you left. What if there’s a fire or something? You idiot!”

“Callum, it’ll be fine,” Juri tried. “They’ve been there for an hour already, and nothing exploded. We cut off the gas as we left.”

Callum looked over at him, clearly too agitated to listen to reason.

“And who the hell are you?”

“Hey!” Marcus reached over to kick Callum’s shin. “You’re being a dick, Ilott. This is Juri. He’s our neighbor from three doors down. He needed help.”

Callum deflated a little, breathed out, then plopped back on his folder.

“ _You_ will need help if anything happens to my papers,” he muttered, and Juri knew he let it go. “Medical help, Marcus. I mean it.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Marcus laid back down, not looking at him. “Just eat sushi and shut up.”

Just as Callum was dipping the last roll into soy sauce, there were heavy steps approaching, and this time it was the gas company man. All three of them jumped up, and the man passed Juri his keys back.

“We patched it up, you’re all good now. Just keep the window open for a day, okay?”

Juri nodded, relief flooding him. They quickly gathered the empty containers and hurried back in. To Juri’s surprise, Marcus and Callum both followed him to his apartment door.

“What?” Marcus mumbled, meeting Juri’s puzzled gaze. “Not letting you out of my sight until I make sure you’re not gonna blow us to smithereens.”

Juri felt his cheeks going red because it was deserved, but Marcus was smiling and suddenly this felt familiar. This is how him and his best friend, Juan, would talk when he was still an exchange student here: constantly winding each other up, poking fun at one another with no mean thought behind it. Juri’s shoulders automatically relaxed, even though they were in now and the smell of gas was still lingering about.

“Wow, you live alone and got a bigger apartment than we have,” Callum commented under his breath.

“Our place is fine,” Marcus shot back, “Your stuff just takes up all the space.”

“My stuff?” Callum’s eyebrows went up, same as Marcus’s did earlier, and Juri realized the two shared a similarity that wasn’t familial but still, they resembled each other. “You have a room full of weights, so I’d shut up if I were you.”

""I'd shut up if I were you","Marcus mimicked his tone in a half-voice as they reached the kitchen and received an elbow in the side from Callum who definitely heard. Juri felt more and more like he was back in high school with his friends.

“Well,” Marcus said as he assessed a mess that the kitchen turned into. There were boot marks on the floor, the sink looked like it was used to process coal and there were shavings of some sort of material all over the counter and the stove, presumably from the newly installed reinforcement higher up on the gas pipe.

“Brilliant,” Juri mumbled. This was going to be a long night. He turned around to prop the window open fully, and remembered with another wave of dread that he didn’t have a screen on it, so he’d probably be eaten alive by mosquitoes come nighttime. This had just gone from bad to worse.

He saw from the corner of his eye that Callum and Marcus exchanged a look, so he prepared to face them and thank Marcus for his help and pay him back for the food, when he saw their faces - identically serious under the blank expression, the same one Marcus had when he’d decided to help.

“How about you stay over at ours for the night?” Marcus said then, with a small smile. Juri didn’t know what brought this on, he was tired and confused and kind of wanted to not keep owing more to this guy who was way too nice to him.

“Come on, we have a spare couch and a lot of video games,” Callum winked as he saw Juri hesitate with a reply. “We’ll come back tomorrow and help you clean this up.”

Juri didn’t know how he could feel so deeply grateful and affectionate about two strangers he met just today, but then again, he remembered how he’d latched onto Juan on the second day he’d met him, and maybe that’s just the way he was. He smiled, genuinely and widely, at the two boys in front of him, and spoke with ease as they all turned to leave,

“The pizza is on me, boys. Today and tomorrow.”

He saw them smiling in response and had to admit that he was really, really looking forward to this.


End file.
